3 American Muslims Convicted of Helping Wage Jihad

By JAMES DAO

Published: March 5, 2004

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 4 — In a victory for the Bush administration's campaign to root out home-grown terrorism, a federal judge convicted three American Muslims on Thursday of conspiring to help a Pakistani group wage "violent jihad" against Indian forces in Kashmir and possibly American troops in Afghanistan.

Federal prosecutors had portrayed the men, two of them American-born converts and one a Pakistani immigrant, as radical Muslims who had prepared to fight for Islamic causes overseas by acquiring weapons and playing paintball in Virginia, as well as training at a camp for mujahedeen fighters in Pakistan.

The defense disputed that depiction, arguing the men were moderate Muslims who played paintball purely for fun and never intended to hurt Americans. They asserted that the prosecution had been driven by anti-Muslim bias.

In a 75-page ruling issued on Thursday, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema came down squarely behind the prosecution's argument, calling the defendants' denials "incredible." Though Judge Brinkema found each of the defendants not guilty on some of the indictment's numerous counts, she convicted them on most of the major conspiracy and weapons charges.

"I could not find the testimony of the two defendants credible," Judge Brinkema said from the bench, referring to the testimony of Seifullah Chapman and Hammad Abdur-Raheem. The third defendant, Masoud Ahmad Khan, did not take the stand in the four-week trial.

Judge Brinkeman said the defendants' claims of innocence amounted to a "blind and deliberate ignorance" of the law that did not justify wrongdoing, adding that she found the case poignant because the defendants appeared to be good fathers and husbands.

The Justice Department issued a statement praising the verdict as a major victory against Islamic terrorists' efforts to "recruit, train and finance jihad in America."

"These convictions are a stark reminder that terrorist organizations are active in the United States," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in the statement. "We will not allow terrorist groups to exploit America's freedoms for their murderous goals."

Mr. Ashcroft also announced a new indictment in Idaho charging Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a graduate student from Saudi Arabia, with aiding Hamas, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization. A federal grand jury in Florida also returned an new indictment charging Adham Hassoun in connection with a plot to finance and recruit for "global jihad."

Judge Brinkema had acquitted another defendant in the Virginia case last month, and there had been great hope among the dozens of supporters who crowded into the courtroom that she might do the same thing on Thursday. But as she announced her verdicts, the rooms fell into a stunned silence, broken only by the sound of a veiled woman who rushed out of the room sobbing.

"It is evident that Muslims should not expect justice," Shaker Elsayed, secretary general of the Muslim American Society, told reporters later. "Muslims are besieged after 9/11, for no fault of their own."

Judge Brinkema ordered Mr. Chapman and Mr. Adbur-Raheem, who had been free on bail, held at the federal detention center in Alexandria until their sentencing hearing in June. Mr. Khan, who has appeared in court dressed in a green jump suit, was already being held at the center.

All three men had rejected plea agreements that would have given them much shorter sentences than what they now face, their lawyers said. Mr. Khan, who was convicted on the most serious charges, could receive more than 100 years in prison. Mr. Chapman faces 30 years or more, and Mr. Abdur-Raheem could get 15 or more, the lawyers said.

The three men were part of a broader indictment handed up last year that charged 11 men with plotting to assist Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group dedicated to forcing Indian forces out of the disputed Kashmir region. In December 2001, the United States declared Lashkar a foreign terrorist organization.

The conspiracy charges were brought partly under the Neutrality Act, a rarely used law that prohibits organizing military expeditions on American soil against countries that are at peace with the United States.

Six of the defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. One man was acquitted last month and the final defendant is scheduled to begin trial next week.

The indictment charged that Mr. Chapman, 31, went to a Lashkar training camp in Pakistan with the possible goal of fighting Indian forces in Kashmir. It also accused Mr. Chapman, who had served in the Marines, with helping to train other group members in combat techniques while playing paintball.

Mr. Abdur-Raheem, 35, a former soldier, was also accused with trying to assist Lashkar by providing combat training to other group members, though he never traveled overseas.

Mr. Khan, 32, was not a regular paintball player. But he knew many members of the group through an Islamic center in Northern Virginia and traveled with several of them to a Lashkar camp in late September 2001 at the urging of a local religious leader, Ali al-Timimi.

Mr. Khan's lawyers argued that he had traveled to Pakistan to resolve a dispute over his dead father's estate. Mr. Chapman's lawyers argued that he went to the camp largely because he saw it as a low-cost, physically challenging expedition into the mountains.

Judge Brinkema rejected those explanations. She was harsh in dismissing Mr. Chapman's arguments, calling it "simply implausible that a well-educated man, deeply involved in issues affecting Muslims," would not have been aware of Lashkar's violent activities.

The defendants had requested that the trial not be heard by a jury, saying they did not believe they could find 12 unbiased jurors.

Judge Brinkema also rejected defense efforts to portray paintball as harmless fun, noting that the Marines use the game for training.

"For the defendants and their co-conspirators," Judge Brinkema, a Clinton appointee, wrote, "these games were viewed as not just an opportunity for outdoor exercise, fellowship and an opportunity to improve self-defense skills, but also as preparation for real combat."